Sor Depressions Spatial Distribution Analysis in the Northern Near-Caspian Region

Abstract.The article deals with the problem of accounting for saline lands. The purpose of the study was sors geoinformation mapping on the Republic of Kalmykia territory, the north-east of the Stavropol Region, the south of the Astrakhan Region, and on the north of the Republic of Dagestan. The novelty of the study is due to the inclusion of the Astrakhan Trans-Volga region in the study area, since most studies affect only the right bank of the Volga River. To map the sor depressions were used following methods. Spectrozonal materials of the Earth remote sensing (images of the «Sentinel» satellite with a spatial resolution of 10 m) in natural colors were used as well as the sor depressions boundaries clarification and differentiation from open sand massifs was carried out using images in a combination of channels including the IR range. 23 thousand objects with a total area of 249.5 thousand hectares, of which 77% have an area of up to 10 hectares, while occupying only 10% of the total area were allocated in total, according to the results of visual decryption. The largest objects are completely dried up salt lakes, which were previously included in the lake groups prevailing in the region (Manychskiye and Sarpinskiye lakes, Western sub-steppe ilmen lakes). The sor depressions distribution across the territory of the Russian Federation Regions included in the study area is given. The data obtained by in-house decryption of remote sensing materials were verified by field surveys in 2022 and 2023 Clarification of the saline sites areas is necessary for various types of work (land reclamation measures, desertification area assessment, geomorphological studies).
Keywords:sors, sor depressions, Caspian lowland, geoinformation analysis, remote sensing, GIS technologies
Funding.This work was carried out within the framework of the state task of research in the FSC of Agroecology RAS № 122020100405-9 “Cartographic modeling of the state, functioning and dynamics of processes of desolate territories using information technologies”.
Citation:. Berdengalieva A.N., Doroshenko V.V., Melihova A.V. Sor Depressions Spatial Distribution Analysis in the Northern Near-Caspian Region. Scientific Agronomy Journal. 2023;4(123):41-45. DOI: 10.34736/FNC.2023.123.4.006.41-45
Поступила в редакцию: 14.09.2023
Accepted for printing: 07.12.2023